The Misadventures of Bravery and Anxiety
by StarryEyedLight
Summary: Drabbles centered around a woman named Riley Price, an ordinary woman whose bravery leads her to aid the Avengers on their missions. Though completely unqualified, Riley somehow keeps herself alive, and despite her anxiety and nerves, continuously proves that ordinary people can be just as resourceful as the superheroes of the world.
1. Chapter 1

Right, um... Hope you guys enjoy. I find writing superhero fiction really difficult, so I opted to write these drabbles as practice and getting out of my comfort zone. Each chapter is, as the description pointed out: based off of a prompt. I'll try posting them in chronological order but I can't guarantee anything. If one is specifically linked to another, I'll state either in chapter title or somewhere in here.

* * *

 **Prompt:** Literally, everything hurts.

 **Rating:** PG-13 (Language)

 **Characters:** Steve Rogers, Scorpion, Riley

 **Other:** None.

* * *

If there was one running theme of car crash survivors, it was their usual opening statement of: "I didn't see it coming."

Riley hadn't fully believed that sentence until now. She hadn't seen what hit her poor little Honda civic, but she had heard it. Heard the metal crunch and crumple, heard as the hood groaned from whatever had smashed into it, and the windshield buckle. There was also the issue of the car coming to a very sudden halt, and momentum dictating that Riley would keep moving anyways.

Her forehead smashed into the steering wheel, before she whipped back, stunned from the strike. Her vision hazed over, dark blots appearing in her sight along with a bleary edge. Riley groaned, feeling a dull throbbing pain spreading through her entire body. She was surprised she didn't black out, though her now aching head certainly wanted too. She looked up slowly, blood running from the new gash on her hairline.

What the hell had hit her so hard in a damn parking lot?

A person – it was a person.

It wasn't another car that had come from somewhere. No, instead her eyes fell upon a man lying in the new crater that was the front end of her vehicle. He wore a dark blue uniform, silver, white and red accents giving some detail to the simple, military design. He didn't say anything at first, sitting up slowly, back to her.

Riley's eyes shot to the telling shield he carried. She rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe away the disbelief.

 _Captain America_ had decimated her car.

She didn't know whether to be furious or impressed. He turned to look at her, the half-mask that usually covered the top portion of his head gone. There were small cuts on his cheek, and one eye was encircled by a bruise.

"Are you okay?" He asked, noting the nasty wound on her head.

Riley opened her mouth to reply, but then _something_ moved. Something was charging straight at them, her eyes widened in horror as the creature closed in, a long barbed tail curling back to strike.

"Hold on!"

Riley threw the car into reverse and smashed her foot down on the gas. The tires squealed from the sudden action, throwing up smoke before the civic hightailed it backwards. The Captain almost fell off from the action, hands desperately grasping at the contorted metal.

The tail struck the asphalt, shattering concrete and stone. Riley kept reversing until her bumper came within an inch of a light pole, her heart was pounding, adrenaline making her hands shake as she tightened her grip on the steering wheel.

The monster looked to be the hellspawn between a man and scorpion, his body covered in a deep brown carapace and hands replaced with pinchers. His tail was long and terrifying, pointed with a sadistic looking stinger. Though what bothered Riley the most was the man's face, it was twisted. Human flesh looked to painfully mold into exoskeleton. His eyes glowed a deep, devilish yellow and it didn't speak.

It snarled, smashing its tail into the pavement again, taunting the Captain.

He grimaced.

Riley revved the engine, all six cylinders growling back at the demon in response. Her impromptu passenger glanced back at her, confused.

Alright, maybe a civic wasn't the most intimidating thing, but it was all she had.

 _'_ _Roar, motherfucker.'_

She revved the engine again.

Steve hadn't understood the brunette's plan until it was too late. Though he admired the bravery behind it, her sudden reverse had almost thrown him from the hood earlier, and now her abrupt acceleration nearly sent him flying off the back of the car. He settled onto one knee, glancing back at the driver for a brief second before he brought his shield up, hiding his body behind it.

He heard Scorpion screech in response to the challenge.

Steve gritted his teeth, bracing himself.

This was going to hurt.


	2. Chapter 2

**Prompt:** None!

 **Rating:** PG-13

 **Characters:** Steve Rogers, Stark, Scorpion, Clint Barton, Riley

 **Linked:** Chapter One

 **Other:** Nothing.

* * *

So, that hellish man-scorpion thing? Turned out that he had friends, and being defeated by Captain America and a girl with a broken civic weeks earlier hadn't sat well with him. Also, apparently his official designation was 'Scorpion,' not terribly original but not everyone could have leaps and bounds of creativity.

Well he came back, with no other intention than wrecking havoc. And, of course, he brought friends.

Friends with guns.

Steve and Tony were keeping the creature occupied, though with how many times the Captain had been sent flying by that tail was any clue, keeping Scorpion busy was costing them. It was left to Barton and Riley to hold off the encroaching gunmen.

Which meant, Riley was ducking down behind a concrete barrier, head almost buried into her knees as she clung to the pistol was a life line. She wasn't good under fire; in fact, she was terrible under fire. Her aim was horrible, not to mention her luck was so bad that if she dared to pop her head over the edge of cover she'd probably be blown away.

So she had taken to panicking over doing anything useful.

Clint glanced at her, frowning at the sight before he scooted next to her, returning fire.

"What are you doing?" He asked, firing a round and down a henchman.

Riley winced at the sound of the gun. "Um, uh… panicking." Her reply was shaky.

Clint couldn't argue with her answer, points for honesty. "You need to fire back."

"You don't want me to do that." Riley replied, looking at him. "I can't even hit a target at a range, these guys are shooting back."

He took her hand holding the gun and brought it up. "Point and shoot. Not hard."

Riley sucked in a breath, trying to summon her courage.

She popped up, aiming at the closest enemy. He was bigger than her, dressed in dark clothing and armour. He hadn't noticed her yet; he was looking at Clint.

 _'Am I really about to kill someone?'_

Her heart felt like ice, her eyes went wide and she dropped down again, staring at the gun.

She couldn't kill somebody; she wasn't a murderer. She wasn't trained for this, all she could do was drive a damn car. Barton either didn't have time to motivate her to try again or had given up on the idea. He opened fire on the same man, shooting the target in the head and dropping him.

He glared at Riley.

Riley cringed, defeated.

"Sorry."

Maybe one day she'd be able to shoot someone.

But today, today wasn't that day.


End file.
